Anyone ITK on what Zinny and White were fighting about?

[redgunamo]

I turned it off when they scored and went for a bath. I was confident we wouldn't blow it again but didn't want to watch it

There is a difference between seeing out a game and dropping back down through the gears. We got too casual in the last 10 minutes.

Apologies for going on about Pep all the time but back in his Bayern days he admitted motivating your players when they know they're so far ahead of their opposition, so dominant that it's ridiculous, was his toughest challenge.

He said players naturally switch off and take a step back when they believe the game is won. Getting them to keep playing forward as a team and as individuals; pushing for more goals, more assists, to be even better than last season was practically impossible, in the short term. It requires a complete change of mindset and given the traditional, essential, ebb and flow of the game, it's essentially ANTI-football.

But it was really the only way to be sure, defenders being what they are and defending, indeed Football Fortune being what it is.

[Peter]

Apologies for going on about Pep all the time but back in his Bayern days he admitted motivating your players when they know they're so far ahead of their opposition, so dominant that it's ridiculous, was his toughest challenge.

He said players naturally switch off and take a step back when they believe the game is won. Getting them to keep playing forward as a team and as individuals; pushing for more goals, more assists, to be even better than last season was practically impossible, in the short term. It requires a complete change of mindset and given the traditional, essential, ebb and flow of the game, it's essentially ANTI-football.

But it was really the only way to be sure, defenders being what they are and defending, indeed Football Fortune being what it is.

I think there is a way to slow a game down and control it, but it isn't by slowing down yourselves.

Gary Neville (sorry!) actually made a great point about this in a game I was watching last year. He said that 'calm down' is a dangerous message in football, and when you want to take the sting out of the game you actually need to increase your movement, increase your intensity.

We started to stand around with our foot on the ball from about 80 minutes. All very well, but the clever way to do that is to move the ball quickly to players in space. Slowing down spreads across the team and concentration tends to drop with the intensity.

We are still learning.

[redgunamo]

I think there is a way to slow a game down and control it, but it isn't by slowing down yourselves.

Gary Neville (sorry!) actually made a great point about this in a game I was watching last year. He said that 'calm down' is a dangerous message in football, and when you want to take the sting out of the game you actually need to increase your movement, increase your intensity.

We started to stand around with our foot on the ball from about 80 minutes. All very well, but the clever way to do that is to move the ball quickly to players in space. Slowing down spreads across the team and concentration tends to drop with the intensity.

We are still learning.

Creatures of habit, footballers are.